Closing Bell: The equity indices on Thursday shrugged off mixed cues from the rest of its Asian peers to end two per cent higher.

Fitch Ratings has revised the outlook on India's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Negative from Stable and affirmed the rating at 'BBB-'. The downgrading had no impact on the market sentiment.

The BSE Sensex ended 2.09 per cent higher at 34,208.05 while the NSE Nifty closed 2.14 per cent higher at 10,091.65.

The Sensex hit an intraday high of 34,276.01 and a low of 33,371.52. Similarly, the Nifty touched an intraday high of 10,110.15 and a low of 9,845.05. The market breadth was positive as 1,889 shares advanced, against a decline of 723 shares, while 137 shares were unchanged.

The banking stocks were the outperformers today with Nifty Bank and Nifty PSU Bank ending with gains of 3.7 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

All other sectoral indices ended in the green, except for Nifty Pharma index which closed on a flat note.

Fertiliser subsidy dues likely to cross a record ₹60,000 crore in FY21

While things looks rosy for the farm sector with a good monsoon and optimism among farmers pushing demand for fertilisers and seeds higher, the Centre has not been able to foot the ballooning subsidy demand on fertilisers. Click here to read the insight

P-note investment rises to over Rs 60,000 cr till May-end

Investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in the domestic capital market rose to Rs 60,027 crore till May-end, making it the second consecutive monthly increase.

P-notes are issued by registered foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to overseas investors who wish to be part of the Indian stock market without registering themselves directly. They, however, need to go through a due diligence process.

According to Sebi data, the value of P-note investments in Indian markets -- equity, debt, hybrid securities and derivatives -- stood at Rs 60,027 crore until May, while the same was at Rs 57,100 crore at the end of April.

The investment level had fallen to an over 15-year-low of Rs 48,006 crore at the end of March.

The figure at March-end was the lowest level of investment since October 2004, when the total value of P-note investments in Indian markets stood at Rs 44,586 crore.

The lower figure in March came amid significant volatility in broader markets on concerns over coronavirus-triggered recession.

CIL identifies greenfield projects to be operated through Mine Developers cum Operators

Coal India Ltd (CIL) has identified close to 15 greenfield projects to be operated through a Mine Developer cum Operator (MDO) in its mines. The move is expected to help increase its coal output and reduce import dependency for coal in the coming years.

Of the 15 greenfield projects, 12 would be at open cast mines and three at underground mines. Combined, they have a total targeted capacity of around 168 million tonnes (MT) a year, said a press statement issued by CIL.

The contract period would be for 25 years or the life of the mine whichever is less.

“CIL will engage MDOs of international repute, having state-of-the-art-technology through open global tenders, who shall excavate, extract and deliver coal to the coal companies of CIL as per the approved mining plan. The board recently has given its nod in regard to standard bid document and request for bids for the engagement of MDOs,” the release said.

Cummins India’s March quarter revenue declines 21 per cent

The Board of Directors of Cummins India Limited, at a recent meeting, took on record the audited financial results for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2020. Revenue for the quarter, at ₹1,032 crore, declined by 21 per cent from ₹1,314 crore recorded in the same quarter last year and by 28 per cent compared to the ₹1,428 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

The contraction was on account of muted order bookings due to the economic slowdown and accentuated by the Covid-19-related lockdown which impacted revenue for the quarter, a press statement issued by the company stated. Read more here

Markets at 2 pm: The benchmark indices (at 2 pm) rose to the day's high on Wednesday. The Sensex was up 1.55 per cent to 34,028 points while the Nifty was trading 1.64 per cent higher at 10,042 points.

Coal India remained the top Nifty gainer (up 6%) and ONGC the top laggard (down 0.8 per cent).

The Nifty Midcap and Smallcap were trading 1 per cent each higher. The India Volatility Index was down 5.8 per cent to 31.42.

The Nifty Metal index was up 2.5 per cent remaining the top sectoral gainer. The Nifty Media and PSU Bank indices gain over 1.5 per cent each.

Pidilite Industries shares fall over 3% after Q4 earnings

Shares of Pidilite Industries on Thursday slipped over 3 per cent after the company reported 34 per cent decline in consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31.

The stock fell 3.39 per cent to Rs 1,383.80 on the BSE. At the NSE, it dipped 3.23 per cent to Rs 1,385.80.

Pidilite Industries on Wednesday reported 33.92 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 156.51 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 236.87 crore for the January-March period of 2018-19.

Its revenue from operations declined to Rs 1,544.68 crore for the fourth quarter as compared with Rs 1,639.28 crore in the same period of 2018-19, Pidilite Industries said in a regulatory filing.

Muthoot Finance shares zoom 15% after Q4 earnings

Shares of Muthoot Finance (MFIN) on Thursday jumped 15 per cent after the company reported a 52.4 per cent jump in consolidated net profit in the last quarter of the fiscal ended March 2020.

The scrip zoomed 13.58 per cent to Rs 1,136.05 -- its 52-week high -- on the BSE.

On the NSE, shares of the company gained 14.99 per cent to a one-year high of Rs 1,149.50.

MFIN on Wednesday reported a 52.4 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 835.78 crore in the last quarter of the fiscal ended March 2020 due to higher demand for gold loans.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 548.56 crore during the corresponding January-March quarter of fiscal ended March 2019.

Performance for the last year has been good for the company because of strong performance of the gold loan business, it said.

MFIN’s total income during March quarter of FY20 rose to Rs 2,633.58 crore from Rs 2,088.84 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a regulatory filing.

DoT to withdraw 96 per cent of Rs 4 lakh crore AGR related dues raised against non-telecom PSUs

The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to withdraw 96 per cent of the Rs 4 lakh crore demand for AGR related dues raised against non-telecom PSUs like GAIL.

A bench of justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the DoT has filed an affidavit explaining the reason for raising the demand of AGR related dues against the PSUs.

ICICI Home Finance launches affordable housing loan scheme

ICICI Home Finance has launched a special affordable housing loan scheme, with special rates for women, lower and middle income groups. Called SARAL, it aims to fund homes in urban and rural areas.

The product has been developed for women, lower, middle income customers and economically weaker sections having maximum household income up to ₹6 lakh annually, it said in a statement on Thursday.

ADB speculates Asia likely to hit weakest-ever growth rate in last six decades

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) maintained on Thursday that Asia will likely clock up its weakest-ever growth in the last six decades this year pertaining to the economic crisis brought by the pandemic, as per a  Reuters  report.

Developing Asia, a group of 45 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, is expected to project growth of just 0.1per cent in 2020, the ADB said in a supplement to its Asian Development Outlook report issued in April, the slowest pace since 1961. The bank also said that the growth will increase next year to 6.2 per cent. Read more here

India returning to normal business activity; consumption, demand rising: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that business activity in India is returning to normal levels with consumption and demand fast approaching pre-Covid levels.

A protracted lockdown imposed to curb spread of coronavirus has resulted in severe disruption of industrial production and consumer spending, with GDP growth forecast to contract sharply. Read more

Nifty call: Buy on declines with stop-loss at 9,875

The Indian benchmark indices opened a little lower today on the back of bearish cues from the Asian market. However, the indices have recovered, and the Nifty 50 spot and the Sensex spot indices are now trading higher by 0.8 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively. Among the major Asian indices, the Nikkei index has ended the day with a loss of 0.4 per cent, and the Hang Seng index is trading lower by half a per cent.

PM Modi launches auction process for 41 coal blocks for commercial mining

rime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the auction process for 41 coal blocks for commercial mining, a move that opens India’s coal sector for private players, and termed it a major step in the direction of India achieving self-reliance.

Launching the auction of mines for commercial mining, that is expected to garner Rs 33,000 crore of capital investment in the country over next five to seven years, the Prime Minister said India will win the coronavirus war and turn this crisis into an opportunity, and the pandemic will make India self-reliant.

The launch of the auction process not only marks the beginning of unlocking of the country’s coal sector from the lockdown of decades , but aims at making India the largest exporter of coal, the Prime Minister said.

Presently, despite being the world’s fourth largest producer, he said India is the second largest importer of the dry-fuel.

Coal India is currently trading 5.6 per cent higher at Rs 136.70 apiece.  

Covid impact: Finance Ministry asks PSBs to cut expenditure on non-core activities

The Finance Ministry has asked public sector banks (PSBs) to defer avoidable expenditure, including purchase of staff cars, effect significant reduction in expenditure on non-core business activities, and defer revision of entitlements and perquisites in FY21 in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ministry emphasised that it is necessary that banks take appropriate measures to ensure productive use of their financial resources for core business activities.

Hence, expenditure on purchase of staff cars, except where unavoidable; expenditure on decorative, non-functional items for the interiors in non-customer facing premises like administrative offices and back-offices; and refurbishment of guest-houses can be deferred without adversely impacting business operations.

TCS, IBM tie up to drive digital and cognitive enterprise transformations

TCS has collaborated with IBM to assist clients accelerate their digital and cognitive enterprise transformations to the IBM public cloud platform.

Under the terms of this partnership, TCS and IBM plan to co-develop solutions designed to help clients migrate workloads across applications, analytics, data estate and platforms using IBM Cloud Paks, enterprise-ready software solutions running on Red Hat OpenShift technology.

Proposed ban on 27 pesticides: Anxious agrochem industry drawing up legal strategy

The agrochemical industry, worried by the proposed ban on 27 pesticides by the Centre, is drawing up a legal strategy to counter it. However, internal documents prepared by industry experts show that continued manufacture of four pesticides on the list would be almost impossible to defend in a court of law due to their high toxicity.

The continued production of another 11 pesticides would also be very difficult or extremely difficult to justify by the companies.

The big players in the industry have prepared internal detailed presentations about the legal fight, which were reviewed by BusinessLine . Every pesticide based on the ability of the companies to defend the chemicals in a court of law has been analysed in the presentations.

Modi to launch Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan on Saturday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch, on Saturday, a massive ₹50,000-crore rural public works scheme called Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan to provide livelihood opportunities to migrant workers who have returned home, as well as people living in rural areas.

The scheme, to be inaugurated by Modi remotely at Telihar village in Bihar’s Khagaria district in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, will also be available in villages across 116 districts in six States ― Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Odisha, apart from Bihar — an official statement said on Thursday. Chief Ministers and other ministers from these States are expected to be present at the virtual launch.

India faces junk rating as Fitch cuts outlook to Negative

India's credit score moved a step closer to junk after Fitch Ratings Ltd. cut the outlook to negative, citing weak economic growth prospects and rising public debt.

Fitch said it expects economic activity to contract by 5% in the fiscal year to March as a result of measures to contain Covid-19. General government debt is seen jumping to 84.5% of gross domestic product during the period, far higher than the median of 42.2% for similar-rated sovereigns in 2019, it said in a statement.

The long-term foreign issuer rating was affirmed at BBB-, the lowest investment grade score.

Fiscal metrics have deteriorated significantly, notwithstanding the governments expenditure restraint, due to the impact of the severe growth slowdown on revenue, the fiscal deficit and public-sector debt ratios, Fitch said.

Fitch revises outlook on India to Negative

Fitch Ratings has revised the outlook on India's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Negative from Stable and affirmed the rating at 'BBB-'.

“The coronavirus pandemic has significantly weakened India's growth outlook for this year and exposed the challenges associated with a high public-debt burden. Fitch expects economic activity to contract by 5 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 2021 (FY21) from the strict lockdown measures imposed since 25 March 2020, before rebounding by 9.5 per cent in FY22,” Fitch said.

Rupee opening: The rupee appreciated 7 paise to 76.09 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday tracking weak US dollar and gains in the domestic equity market.

Forex traders said rupee was trading in a narrow range as positive domestic equities and weak US currency supported the local unit, while rising coronavirus cases, border tension with China and foreign fund outflows capped the gains.

The rupee opened at 76.17 against the US dollar, gained further ground, and touched 76.09 against the US dollar, up 7 paise over its previous close.

Power Grid Corp to let go of role of Central Transmission Utility

The Ministry of Power has advised Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) to let go of the role of the country’s Central Transmission Utility (CTU).

To implement this advisory, PGCIL will be immediately setting up a CTU as a new 100 per cent subsidiary of the public sector undertaking.

This new subsidiary will be separated into an entity, which will be wholly owned by the Government of India within the next six months or till completion of formalities for its creation, a significant government order on Wednesday evening said. Read more here

Broker's call: NMDC (Sell)

NMDC paid ₹980 crore direct tax liability under the Vivad se Vishwas scheme and ₹140 crore service tax liability under the Sabka Vishwas scheme. According to the FY19 annual report, NMDC had won direct tax related matters at ITAT and was not required to make provisions.

Chhattisgarh govt alleged non-payment of storage fee, which NMDC has disputed. The State had also raised a tax demand of ₹1,620 crore under the common cause judgment. NMDC has paid ₹600 crore under protest and has filed a case to recover the same.

Broker's call: Mastek (Buy)

Partially consolidated in Q4, Evosys was resilient in the macro environment. It brought $12 million (annualised $80m+) in Q4, reflecting the seasonal pick up and ended FY20 with about 12 per cent growth. The Evosys management tone was positive, expecting 18-20 per cent growth in FY21. Ranked the fourth fastest-growing Indian company in the UK, it is climbing up ranks in Garner’s magic quadrant for Oracle cloud services as well. Margins have fallen to 18-20 per cent (from 22 per cent in FY19), potentially on accelerated investments in the present context.

Opening bell: It is a weak start for Indian equity indices as growing coronavirus cases crushed hopes of a quick economic comeback from the pandemic.

At 9.15 a.m, the Sensex was quoted at 33,491.99, down 15.93 points or 0.05 per cent. The Nifty was down 17.90 points or 0.18 per cent at 9,863.25.

Oil prices fall on demand concerns as coronavirus cases rise

Oil prices fell around 2 per cent on Thursday as a spike in new coronavirus cases in China and the United States renewed fears that people would stay home, stalling a recovery in fuel demand even as lockdowns ease.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dropped 2.1 per cent, or 80 cents, to $37.16 a barrel at 0138 GMT, adding to a loss of 42 cents on Wednesday. Read more here

Wall Street advances on prospect of economic rebound

Wall Street gained ground on Wednesday as signs of economic recovery helped investors look past spiking pandemic data and the potential of a new round of economic lockdowns.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62.38 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 26,352.36, the S&P 500 gained 12.8 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 3,137.54 and the Nasdaq Composite added 81.43 points, or 0.82 per cent, to 9,977.29.

Day Trading Guide for June 18, 2020

₹979 • HDFC Bank

₹703 • Infosys

₹181 • ITC

₹84 • ONGC

₹1615 • Reliance Ind.

₹173 • SBI

₹2047 • TCS

9850 • Nifty 50 Futures

S1, S2 : Support 1 & 2; R1, R2: Resistance 1 & 2.

Today's Pick| Rallis India (₹259.4): Buy

The stock of Rallis India made a fresh high on the daily chart on Tuesday, opening the door for further strengthening.

After facing significant fall in March, the stock quickly reversed the trend and has been witnessing good upward momentum. Though the rally faced a hindrance at ₹230 in May, the stock broke out of it in June. The stock also breached the resistance at ₹250 on Tuesday. Thus, the price action on the daily chart hint at bulls gathering considerable amount of strength, and Tuesday’s price moderation might be a small pull-back before resumption of the rally. Read more here

Global stocks retreat on rising second wave fears

Asian stocks and Wall Street futures fell on Thursday as spiking coronavirus cases in some US states and China crushed hopes of a quick global economic comeback from the pandemic.

S&P 500 mini futures fell 1.2 per cent in early Asian trade while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost as much as 1 per cent.

Japan's Nikkei lost 1.3 per cent while in mainland China, bluechip CSI300 shares shed 0.1 per cent in early trade.

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